


The Troublemakers In: The Case Of The Wrong Feather!

by TheFoolsYouSee



Series: After Blood And Souls [3]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Gen, brief lumity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:41:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27728929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoolsYouSee/pseuds/TheFoolsYouSee
Summary: The ex-Detention Track Gang investigate a beast that's been raiding local crops, and uncover a wider mystery. But Viney also has to contend with the attentions of a certain Blight twin.
Relationships: Emira Blight/Viney
Series: After Blood And Souls [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967302
Comments: 30
Kudos: 111





	1. Chapter 1

Viney had started humming to herself during her walks to Hexside. Before this semester had begun, her efforts to combine her Healing Track projects with elements of Beast Keeping kept getting her in trouble. It hadn’t been that she’d summoned griffins to crash through classroom walls to help with a check-up, or that she’d sent out a swarm of pixies to inoculate the school against a viral infection (whether the students wanted the injection or not). That kind of chaos was par for the course at Hexside – it had been the fact that she was trying to combine Tracks. The school rules stated that, apart from more general lessons like Magical History, students had to stick to a single Track and mixing magic was a fast way to get yourself thrown in the Detention Pit. But Viney had kept trying, thinking that surely _this_ time the teachers would see the possibilities that could come from combining expertise from different subjects. And after the Pit had been put out of order she’d been more hopeful of being able to make her case without being summarily thrown into the chasm where students' individuality were drained. Principal Bump, however, had found another solution – taking her and a couple of other students guilty of the same crime out of classes entirely and putting them in a so-called ‘Detention Track’. All they were allowed to do was sit in silence, and breaking that rule led to random, unimaginative punishments from the tall-headed Professor assigned to watch them, like scrubbing the classroom or sharpening the chalk. Viney had preferred the more literal soul-sucking of the Pit.

But whilst cleaning the underside of one of the desks as Professor Adimundi snored in his chair, Viney had uncovered an engraving under a layer of grime – a set of instructions carved into the wood underneath the desk, explaining how to draw a sigil that would reveal a secret part of the school, and was signed by someone calling themselves ‘Lord Calamity’. After drawing the sigil on the blackboard, she and the other two students decommissioned to the Track had been able to open a door that led to a tower-like room that contained dozens of doors, all leading to different parts of the school. The trio had been able to eavesdrop on any class, from any Track, as long as they were back in their own classroom by the time the bell woke their Professor. They had finally been able to study the combination of subjects they’d wanted, and when the time came that the school was threatened by a Greater Basilisk, they had been able to use the skills they’d learned to neutralise it. Principal Bump had finally allowed them to combine Tracks openly, and now Viney woke up looking forward to every school day.

After a Healing class where she’d been able to demonstrate how Slitherbeast fur made for a natural gauze dressing, the raggedy-clothed girl joined her old classmates from the Detention Track for lunch in the cafeteria, the trio still firm friends.

"How was _Potions Again'_ Barcus?" Viney asked.

"Arf!" the canine boy across the table from her replied, panting happily.

"Good," Viney nodded. "I’m glad Miss Jenkinmeyer isn’t holding anything against you from before."

"Yeah," Jerbo added. "I don’t know how _I’d_ feel about seeing my own reflection disintegrate into a lifeless skeleton." The lanky boy was bobbing a small Abomination made of earth on his knee and was trying to guide a spoonful of paste into its mouth. "Come on Shawn, it’s good for you," he coaxed.

The toddler-sized creature sniffed at the substance and then clamped its mouth over the whole spoon, sucking it out of Jerbo’s hand and down its gullet.

Jerbo sighed. "That’s just going to make you sick. It’s not iron, it’s _aluminum._ Can you say _aluminum_?"

Shawn gurgled in response and softly batted a hand against Jerbo’s cheek. The witchling wiped the crumbs of soil off his face with a chuckle, and examined the white tulip sticking out of the Abomination’s head.

"Your colour’s getting a bit dull, champ, maybe we need to… oh, that’s new."

Viney and Barcus followed Jerbo’s gaze to look across the cafeteria at the door. Their human friend Luz (who had helped them defeat the Basilisk and so get permission to study their chosen tracks) had just walked in. And she was holding hands with Amity Blight.

Both girls appeared a little sheepish as a couple of other students turned to look at them. Viney heard an annoyed scoff from Boscha at a nearby table, but most others in the hall gave the couple a quick, mildly curious glance before going on with their lunches. Viney watched Luz and Amity go over to where their friends Willow and Gus were sitting. When Willow spotted them coming she stood and gave an exaggerated gasp, before dropping the pretence of surprise and saying something with a nod that made the other two girls laugh.

Viney caught Luz’s eye as the human glanced over and smiled back at her, making a heart shape with her hands. Luz giggled and waved to her before sitting with the others.

"That’s cute," Viney said as she continued eating. "Amity’s seemed a lot nicer recently, I think Luz’ll be really good for her."

‘She will,’ a voice came from behind her. ‘Mittens has really loosened up since they met.’

Viney turned to see Edric and Emira Blight stood by their table, looking dotingly over at their sister.

"She’s not squealed on us in weeks," Emira continued. "Finding love has really helped her grow as a tolerable sibling."

"Yeah," Edric added. "I just hope she remembers to thank me."

Emira frowned at her twin. "Edric, you did nothing."

"And I’d do it again," Edric nodded proudly.

Emira rolled her eyes and looked back over at Luz and Amity’s table. "I love affectionate relationships," she sighed, sitting down next to Viney and giving her a smile. "Love to be a part of one someday."

‘Your brother seems pretty affectionate,’ Viney replied. Edric flopped himself on top of Emira from behind with a dopey grin, which earned him a scowl and a shove to the face from his sister.

" _Not_ what I’m after," she said firmly. "Maybe what I need is someone who knows all the secrets of how to banish annoying creatures, and maybe fix a couple of scratches and bruises too."

"I’ll let you know if I see anyone who can help you," Viney said with a sweet smile.

"Oh, I bet you will," Emira smiled back.

Edric tugged at his sister’s arm. "Em, come oooooon, they’ll run out of fried tentacles!"

Emira sighed and stood up from the table again. "Bye, cutie," she said to Viney with a wink.

Jerbo shook his head incredulously as the twins walked away. "And you’re STILL saying she’s not flirting with you?" he asked.

Viney shrugged. "Emira flirts with everyone. Yesterday she was saying how handsome Barcus was."

"Arf!"

"Yes, of _course_ that's objectively true," Viney conceded. "But it doesn’t mean she likes me more than anyone else."

Jerbo looked down at Shawn and gave him an exasperated look. "What do you think?" he asked. "Is Auntie Viney in denial?"

Shawn thought it over, and then threw up a mouthful of soggy soil onto Jerbo’s tunic.

* * *

Viney was thinking about the exchange with Emira as she walked through the marketplace on her way home from school. It wasn’t that she didn’t hope the other girl really _was_ flirting with her, but it was always hard to know what was going behind the female Blight twin’s golden eyes. If she had any reason to think that she was being singled out specifically, then maybe-

"Hey, have any of you seen a griffin?"

Viney looked over towards the voice which had called out across the market square, where a small group in brown cloaks were stood together. The tallest wore a patch over one eye and a pair of shrunken heads around his neck, and was pinching his brow with his fingers.

"Tom, please don’t do that," he was saying to the lumpy-headed man who had shouted the question. "It doesn’t give us good cred to just _ask_ people."

"Well I’m sorry," the other man retorted, "but maybe I don’t feel like much of a Demon Hunter wearing _this_!" He tugged at the hi-vis jacket that each of them were wearing over their cloaks.

"Why are you looking for a griffin?" Viney asked as she approached them. As far as she knew, Demon Hunters were only in the game to sell on the monsters they captured, and griffins didn’t fetch enough snails to be worth the effort. But her thoughts still protectively went to the spot in the woods where her old Healing assistant Puddles nested.

"We’ve been given a bounty on a creature ruining the Blood Apple crops in the Western Orchard," the lead Hunter replied.

"Griffins don’t eat Blood Apples," Viney said. "They’re carnivores."

"Yeah, well we found feathers all over the scene," the Demon Hunter replied dismissively.

"That’s not very conclusive evidence," Viney frowned. "Lots of creatures have-"

"Look kid," the man snapped, cutting her off. "We’ve been given a bounty and we’re just trying to close it, now have you seen a griffin or not?"

Viney eyed the group, and the deadly-looking weapons slung on their backs.

"No, I haven’t," she said, and walked away across the square. She felt their eyes follow her as she went, before the lumpy headed man’s voice called out again.

"How about you sir? By the looks of you, you must have LOTS of birds!"

"Tom, that’s a statue."

* * *

The sun was setting and it was becoming hard to spot anything in the grass, but Viney kept walking between the trees of the orchard scanning the ground, determined to try and find some evidence for herself.

"You sure this can’t wait until morning?" Jerbo called out from across the orchard where he was doing his own sweep.

"No, we’ve got to prove it wasn’t a griffin!" Viney replied. "I don’t even want to think about what they’ll do if they find Puddles."

"It wasn’t easy finding a sitter, you know," Jerbo grumbled.

"Hey, come on!" Viney stopped and looked over at the other witchling. "We’re the Detention-Track Gang, remember? We got through that together, and now we get through everything together, that’s what we said."

"Yeah, yeah," Jerbo conceded with a wave of his hand, and they both turned back to look at the ground again. Viney had to admit that she could barely make out her own feet now, and any feathers the Demon Hunters had found would likely have been blown away since they were here.

"Arf!"

Viney looked over towards the sound of the triumphant bark, and she and Jerbo both hurried over. Barcus had his paw on a something fluttering on the ground, and Viney bent down to pick it up. She summoned a ball of light with a twirl of her finger and held it over her other hand.

"Well it’s a feather," she identified. "But it’s definitely not a griffin’s. The texture’s not right."

Barcus was still sniffing at the ground, and Viney cast her light ahead. There were more feathers scattered about this patch of the orchard, their dark grey colour standing out against the red of the grass. They seemed to be concentrated here, which was odd as surely by now the wind would have-

Then Viney heard a scrambling, snuffling noise ahead, and realised that the feathers were fresh.

The trio exchanged a wary glance but cautiously walked on, following the trail on the ground. Viney kept her ball of light held up to light the way as the sun finally dropped below the horizon. Her eyes scanned between the trees, and she held up a hand to stop the others when she spotted the source of the noise.

She could make out a large, shadowy mass scrabbling at the trunk of one of the trees. The branches shook, and a cluster of Blood Apples pattered to the ground. The beast lowered its forelegs off the tree and started to hungrily devour the pile of fruit. Barcus gave a quiet whimper, and Viney agreed that the creature looked too big for them to take on themselves. They started to slowly back away.

Then there was a loud, wet crunch, and their eyes all shot down to where Jerbo had squashed another fallen Blood Apple beneath his foot.

The beast’s head whipped around, its sharp eyes and equally sharp fangs reflecting the light from Viney’s glowing orb. It let out a rattling hiss and started to stalk towards them.

"Scatter!" Viney cried, and the three teenagers all darted in different directions as the creature pounced towards the spot where they had been stood. It snarled, picked one of the retreating figures, and bounded after them.

Jerbo threw a glance behind him and groaned to see that he had been chosen as the target. He reached his hands out towards the trees he was running past and drew a quick circle with his finger. Apples were illuminated with a glowing outline and plucked themselves from the branches, flying back to pelt themselves at the pursuing beast. It stopped, lifting one foreleg up to try and protect itself from the barrage. With a victorious laugh, Jerbo stopped and turned fully to face the creature. He drew another, wider circle, and the apples on the ground all started to roll towards a concentrated spot, piling up until they made a tall, powerful shape. The mass of fruit had formed the silhouette of an Abomination, which lumbered forward. The beast reared up with a roar, and the Apple-Abomination grappled with it, the two monsters straining against each other’s strength. Then the Abomination dropped its arms to wrap around the other creature’s torso and charged forward. It knocked its opponent into a tree, which splintered and toppled to the ground. The beast fell onto its side, dazed, and the Apple-Abomination turned to stomp back to Jerbo.

"Nice work!" Jerbo grinned at it. "I’m gonna call you Crispin-"

Then the fallen tree-trunk flew into the Abomination, making its apples fly apart and shower down to the ground with a soft rumble.

"Oh, okay, never mind." Jerbo looked back over to the beast, which was now back on its feet and trying to tear down another tree to throw at him.

" _Hey_!"

They both turned toward the cry to see Viney waving her ball of light in the air. Jerbo took his chance while the creature was distracted, and darted off into the trees.

The beast glanced back at the spot where the boy had been and snarled in frustration to see him gone. It turned back to Viney and raced towards her; Viney sprinted away as fast as she could but the beast’s bounds brought it quickly up to her, and she was swatted aside by its swipe. She landed roughly on the ground, scrambled to her feet, and aimed her light back at the creature. But the sight she'd illuminated made her freeze.

The creature’s face wasn’t that of a beast. Now that she was close enough, Viney could see it could almost be a person’s face staring out of the mane of feathers. And she recognised it.

The creature growled again, and she realised she’d been stood still for too long. She started to back away, but it was already pouncing-

Barcus leapt towards the beast from the side, his headbutt knocking its trajectory away from Viney. The creature rolled with its own momentum, crashing into the side of another tree. Barcus gave a small, slightly dazed shake of his head, but hurried to stand next to Viney. She glanced to her other side to see Jerbo joining them, and the trio stood together to face their enemy.

Viney held her light forward to make a spotlight and saw black eyes squinting away, a foreleg coming up to shield them.

"It doesn’t like light!" she cried to the others, and they all summoned more glowing orbs to direct at the creature, Jerbo drawing circles with his hands and Barcus with his tail. The creature flinched back and they ran forward, chasing it away. The beast scrabbled to escape them, and two wings sprang out from its feathery back. It took a couple of bounds and then leapt up to fly over the trees and away into the night sky. The trio stopped, and watched the shadow disappear into the distance, catching their breath.

"That _definitely_ wasn’t a griffin," Jerbo panted.

Viney nodded. The face she’d seen had been one that the whole town knew from being plastered on propaganda posters everywhere, and from being on every crystal ball broadcast barely a week ago. She didn’t know how, but somehow Lilith had been turned into a monster.


	2. Chapter 2

Jerbo rang the doorbell of Blight Manor and stepped back when the door opened.

"Hey," Emira smiled, before glancing behind him out into the night. "So… just you two?"

"Yeah, sorry," Jerbo said as he and Barcus stepped inside, the canine boy politely wiping his paws on the mat. "Viney wanted to go to the library to look up curses."

"Yeah, sure, no problem." Emira nodded, overly casual. "They’re upstairs with Ilanna."

The green-haired girl led the two boys up the flight of steps. She knocked on a door before opening it and walking through; Amity was sat on her bed with a green-haired baby, turning the pages of a picture book for her. She glanced up as they entered and smiled, gesturing over to the corner of the room where Luz was kneeling with Shawn.

"Come on, you can do it," the human was saying encouragingly to the small, soily Abomination. "I _am Groot_. Say _I am Groot_."

But Shawn just responded with an incomprehensible babble. Then his eyes lit up when he spotted Jerbo, and Luz turned to follow his gaze.

"Jerbo!" she called out with a grin as she picked Shawn up and carried him over. "Jerb! Jerbosity! And Big B, what is uuup!"

After she’d let Shawn reach out and grab hold of Jerbo, she held a hand out above Barcus and he jumped in the air to tap her palm with his forehead. Then he went over to the bed to let a delighted Ilanna play with his ears.

"Thanks again for this," Jerbo said, nestling Shawn against his chest.

"It’s no problem," Amity said, scooping her younger sister away from where she’d started to tug a little too hard at Barcus’s fur. "We were on babysitting duty tonight anyway."

"Not _my_ idea of a first date," Emira said, shaking her head.

"Are you kidding?" Luz asked as she went to sit on the bed next to Amity. "I get to hang out with _two_ Blight cuties!" She then gasped as a thought struck her. "Amity! Tiny hat! Tiny robe! _Baby Azura photoshoot!"_

Amity sighed, but couldn’t stop herself from smiling. "We don’t have a tiny hat, Luz."

"We could make one so fast! We’re on the verge of greatness Amity, we’re _this close!"_

Emira rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. Jerbo took Shawn’s arm and got him to wave to the girls as they followed the elder Blight out.

"Did you find what you were after?" Emira asked as she led them back down the stairs.

"Sort of," Jerbo replied. "Whatever’s been raiding the orchard, it’s not a griffin. I don’t know _what_ it was."

"I’m sure Viney will figure it out." Emira said. "Maybe that’s where all her attention’s going right now. Do you think I need to be less subtle with her?"

"If you can then I’d like to see it," Jerbo said, giving her a final smile before he and Barcus stepped out of the manor, the door closing behind them. Shawn started to fidget, and Barcus looked up at him and gave Jerbo a questioning bark.

"Oh, thanks bud." Jerbo brought Shawn over to sit on Barcus’s back, keeping his hand on the small Abomination’s shoulder to keep him balanced. The three of them walked along the path, and Jerbo looked up at the moon, remembering the silhouette of the creature they had chased off earlier that evening. He hoped Viney would be able to work out what it was before it ended up hurting someone.

* * *

Viney had taken a stack of books from the Bonesborough library and stayed up late into the night reading up on transformation curses. But she couldn’t find anything that matched the description of the creature she’d seen, and certainly no curse that a witch as powerful as Lilith couldn’t defend herself against. She knew that a story from three teenagers about some unknown monster wouldn’t be enough to dissuade the Demon Hunters from their chosen bounty, so Viney decided to change tack – instead of identifying the beast, she would identify what happened to Lilith.

Although the attempted petrification of Eda the Owl Lady had been broadcast across the Isles, none of the footage from that night had been shown again since then. Some said that Kikimora, the new head of the Emperor’s Coven, had ordered it to be erased – all that the people needed to know was that the Titan had decreed Eda’s life be spared. But Viney remembered seeing Lilith hailed as a hero for capturing the covenless witch, right before being suddenly ousted from her position. Whatever had occurred to cause such an about-turn, the witch was now out of the Emperor’s castle, and if she was raiding the Western Orchard that meant she was likely staying in Bonesborough somewhere. Viney began by asking around the stalls and shops at the market square to see if anyone matching Lilith’s description had been by. Eventually a stall owner that sold hair dye products identified her, and said they’d seen the tall, pale woman head round the back of one of the shop buildings after her purchase.

Following the route down the alley, Viney glanced at the ground and noticed that a cluster of dark feathers had been blown into the gutter, and felt a surge of excitement at the confirmation that she was on the right track. A door was laid into the wall halfway along the alley, and she knocked on it.

"Hello?" she called out after a few seconds of silence. When there was still no reply she tried tugging at the door handle, but it was locked. She glanced down either end of the alley. Confident she wasn’t being watched, she removed the peg that held the front of her cowl together and inserted the thin end into the lock, wiggling it against the inner levers.

"Having fun over here?"

Viney dropped the peg and spun round. Emira Blight was leant against the wall of the alley, having apparently appeared from nowhere.

"I heard you were a troublemaker," the green-haired girl smirked. "I just thought it’d be a few years before you went full criminal."

Viney caught her breath and gave the other girl a narrow look. "Don’t tell me _you’re_ going to give me a lecture on good behaviour."

"No," Emira shook her head. "But I do have some notes on your technique."

She gestured for Viney to step back from the door, and drew a circle in the air. A ball of flame appeared in the Blight twin’s hand and she knelt down, holding it out in front of the handle. With the finger of her other hand, she sent a small stream of flame from the fireball towards the lock to heat it up, careful not to let it touch the wood of the door around it. Viney glanced warily back down the alley at the shoppers who were passing by.

"Oh, relax," Emira said, noticing the other girl’s look. "I put up an illusion of us the second I saw you."

"An illusion of both of us?" Viney raised an eyebrow. "Of us doing what, exactly?"

Emira grinned up at her. "Oh, nothing _too_ inappropriate."

She stood up again, positioned herself in front of the door, and then gave it a mighty kick. The door burst open, the metal of the lock mangled and twisted from the heat. Emira gestured politely for Viney to go first.

There was a staircase directly behind the door, and the two girls climbed it up to another door, which was ajar. Viney peeked through the gap, and slowly pushed it open.

The room inside was a scene of destruction. A couch lay in tatters, its cushions torn open and their stuffing strewn about the apartment amidst more dark feathers. Belongings that had sat on shelves lay trampled and broken on the floor, and gashes lined the walls. A chilly breeze was coming from the open window, and Viney could make out frantic scratch marks around its edges. She shivered – the room was so cold that the window must have been swinging open for days.

"So…" Emira began, a hint of nervousness in her voice. "W-What are we doing here?"

"Looking for a were-beast," Viney said, glancing around to try and find something to confirm this was definitely Lilith’s apartment. "They’ve been raiding the Blood-Apple Orchard and there’s a bunch of Hunters that think it’s a griffin."

"Awww," Emira simpered. "Look at you pursuing animal justice. Need an assistant?"

Viney pursed her lips at the other girl’s patronising tone. But then she took a breath and turned to her.

"Yeah, okay. You and me, let's do this." She held out her hand.

But Emira seemed suddenly frozen, surprised at the other girl's candour. Viney kept her hand held out for a few more seconds before lowering it again.

"I need to know if you're serious, or if you're just saying stuff like that because it's fun," she said.

The green-haired girl's gaze wavered slightly and she shifted on her feet, apparently unused to having to be _this_ open about her feelings.

"Isn't...fun...enough?" Emira asked.

Viney's own eyes lowered, and she felt a tense dissonance at the different places they seemed to be coming from.

"The first thing you learn in Beast Keeping is to be direct," she began. "When you're dealing with animals, you have to signal your intentions clearly to them. And when that doesn't happen... then you can end up getting hurt."

They stood in the wreckage of the apartment in silence for a moment. When it became clear that Emira wouldn't, or couldn't, say anything more definitive than she already had, Viney gave a sigh and turned to continue looking through the overturned objects scattered around them. She bent down and moved a small, overturned chest; a collection of Grudgby medals had spilled out, and she picked one up, holding it up to the sunlight to make out the engraving.

" _Lilith Clawthorne,'"_ she read out loud with satisfaction.

"Lilith?" Emira asked with surprise, turning from where she'd also gone back to searching through the mess. " _She’s_ the one turning into a beast?"

"Yeah, Lilith the old Coven leader," Viney replied. " _Clawthorne_ … is she related to Eda the Owl Lady?"

"They’re sisters," Emira frowned. "Wait, do you not know why people call Eda 'The Owl Lady'?"

"Because she… knits them?" Viney suggested.

Emira shook her head. "Come with me, your case has just been blown wide open."

* * *

Viney had messaged Jerbo and Barcus on their scrolls about the break in the case and they had joined them on the way to the Owl House, Jerbo carrying Shawn on his shoulders. They were now stood together with Emira outside the door, and when Eda opened it she gave the group a glance before groaning.

" _Hooty!"_ she scolded. "I don’t even know these ones!"

Jerbo passed Shawn to Viney and bent down on one knee, bowing his head respectfully. "Oh Lord Calamity," he began. "We seek your help and wisdom in our hour of need, as you once helped us before."

"Oh," Eda flicked a strand of hair away from her face with a flattered chuckle. "So you found my little Hexside hideout, did you?"

"Yeah," Viney nodded, trying to keep the squirming Abomination in her arms still. "It helped us carry on with our classes after Principal Bump took us out of them."

The grey-haired witch suddenly frowned. "Wait... you used all the secret doors I built to get out of doing school… to do _more_ school?"

"That’s right!" Jerbo raised his head, his gaze reverent. "And thanks to you we can do more classes than ever now!"

Eda leant against the doorframe and covered her hand with her mouth. Her cheeks were turning a nauseous shade of green.

" _Now I am become dweeb…"_ she whispered to herself.

"Uhh… the case?" Emira prompted.

"Oh, yeah!" Viney passed Shawn back to Jerbo and held out the pocketful of feathers she’d brought with her from the trashed apartment. "We think your sister has turned into a beast."

Eda straightened and held out her hand as Viney dropped the feathers into them. She looked them over for a second before clenching her fist over the dark plumes.

"I _told_ her to use the elixir," she muttered darkly. Then she glanced up at the group of teenagers again and sighed. "Well, my normal gang of kids are off having fun somewhere, so I guess I can see if you’ll be any more entertaining. Where did you see her?"

* * *

After Eda had collected her staff and packed a satchel with a couple of vials of orange liquid, they had headed towards the Blood-Apple Orchard on foot. Viney had taken the lead, but for once Emira was hanging back from her. She was walking alongside Barcus, who had Shawn strapped securely onto his back, and the Blight girl was entertaining the small Abomination with little illusions of glowing butterflies. Jerbo was left to walk next to Eda at the rear; the witch was staring ahead, seemingly preoccupied, and Jerbo smacked his lips to try and fill the awkward silence.

"I know you were a troublemaker when you were at Hexside," he said. "But Principal Bump also said you wanted to study _every_ Track."

Eda glanced over, surprised, and then turned to look ahead again.

"Yeah, I did," she admitted. "But Bumpikins wasn’t as understanding with me, so I guess I started acting out. And then I got left with a pretty bad taste in my mouth about school with how things ended."

"What happened?" Jerbo asked.

Eda was silent for a moment, and Jerbo began to worry that he’d taken his curiosity too far. But then Eda sighed.

"Lily’s only just gotten this curse," she said quietly. "But I had to deal with it for a lot longer."

Jerbo didn’t press her further, and the pair remained silent until they all reached the orchard. Eda opened the flap of her satchel in preparation.

"Now if I know Lily’s cravings," she said, "she’ll be back again tonight. I’ll zap her with a sleep spell, give her some elixir, leave her one for the road and case closed, quick as you like."

"Thank you Eda," Viney smiled.

"Yeah, yeah." The tall witch waved a dismissive hand to the girl and sauntered off through the trees.

They waited until the sun had started to go down, Jerbo eventually managing to get Shawn to catch the apples he was throwing to him. Then eventually Barcus raised his head and twitched his ear, letting out a warning bark. They all looked up and saw a dark, winged shape flying down overhead.

"You kids stay back," Eda instructed in a low voice. "Once she lands I’ll sneak up from behind and hit her with the sleep spell."

They watched Lilith fly down, heading towards a spot across the orchard.

But then a net suddenly sprang up from beneath the trees and entangled itself around the gliding beast. Lilith screeched and she plummeted to the ground.

"Lily!" Eda cried, and they all sprinted over to where she’d landed.

As they reached the spot they saw the trapped creature surrounded by the Demon Hunters, who were already opening the back of a cart in preparation to load their captive in.

"Oh hey!" Tom called as they arrived, giving a friendly wave to Viney. "Turns out it wasn’t a griffin after all, thanks for the tip!"


	3. Chapter 3

Eda aimed the point of her staff at the Demon Hunters. ‘You’d better let her go QUICK,’ she snarled.

"Sorry lady," the lead Hunter smirked. "This bounty is gonna put us back on top."

Lilith strained against the net, but the ropes were binding her long pale arms to her large feathery body, and she screeched in frustration.

Eda charged a glowing bolt on the end of her staff. "I’m gonna give you five more seconds to realise what a stupid decision you’re making."

"Really?" the lead Hunter frowned over his eyepatch. "Cos I’m counting a whole team of Demon Hunters on our side, and one old lady and a bunch of kids on yours."

Emira stepped forward. "This is Eda the Owl Lady," she declared. "The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles."

"She doesn’t look all that powerful," the lead Hunter retorted.

Viney glanced over at Eda, and realised that the grey-haired woman was trembling with the effort of keeping the flame at the end of her staff lit. After a few more seconds of straining, the flame petered out and Eda fell to one knee, panting.

"Yeah," the lead Hunter said with a grin. "I think we’ll be taking our catch." He and the other Hunters all spun a finger in the air, and a glowing outline surrounded Lilith. The still-struggling beast was magically lifted up and began floating towards the back of the cart.

Emira turned to Eda. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"I…" Eda kept her eyes down, seemingly more out of embarrassment than fatigue now. "I-I can’t do magic on my own anymore."

"What?!" Emira’s eyes widened. "Eda, you’re making me look like an idiot out here!"

Viney stepped up alongside them. "It’s okay,’ she said. ‘You’re _not_ on your own."

Eda looked up as Jerbo and Barcus came forward too, but the witch shook her head. "I’m not putting you kids in danger, this is nothing to do with you."

"We’ll be fine," Viney smiled. "We’ve got Barcus with us."

Eda and Emira shared a confused frown.

"Barcus knows the times and dates of all our deaths," Jerbo explained, trying to hold a squirming Shawn still. "He’d let us know if things were gonna go bad."

The grey-haired woman and green-haired girl both turned to stare at the furry Oracle Track student, who gave them a nonchalant shrug.

"…Okay, gonna be circling back to THAT later," Eda said, and got to her feet.

The group stood together to face the team of Demon Hunters. Emira drew a circle to summon an identical-looking illusion of Lilith’s beast form next to the cart, and it hissed at the nearest Hunter. The brown-robed figure yelped in surprise and fell back onto the floor, breaking the spell that was holding the real Lilith in the air. As the illusion vanished, the one remaining feathery creature fell to the ground heavily on top of some of the other Hunters, their limbs flailing out from underneath her.

The lead Hunter turned and glared at the gang of troublemakers. He put his hands together and then pulled them apart, summoning a glowing whip in the space between his palms.

"Go save your sister," Viney said to Eda. "We’ll deal with Chuckles."

"Hey, don’t call me Chuckles!" the lead Hunter protested. "I have a name!"

"Sure you do," Emira smirked, and span a wide circle with her arms. A stream of blue fog poured out of the glowing ring she’d formed, and it sped toward Chuckles as if being blown by a fast wind. As the eyepatched man tried to wave away the opaque mist, Eda jumped onto her staff and flew into the air. Chuckles glanced up and spotted her, and flicked his whip up toward her staff – but a root quickly reached up from the ground, catching the end of the glowing line. Jerbo moved his hands in front of him, controlling the root to try and tug the whip out of the Hunter's hands. He looked down to where Shawn was sat on the floor, watching him curiously.

"This is called a _fight_ , Shawn," Jerbo said, his voice straining with effort. "Can you say faAAAH!"

Chuckles had sent a second whip out from his other hand, wrapping it around Jerbo’s torso, and the boy was now being flung across the small clearing in the orchard. One of the Demon Hunters had managed to pull themselves out from Lilith’s still-bound form, but was knocked down again as Jerbo landed on them.

Shawn giggled, and Viney quickly bent down to pick the plant-abomination up off the ground. Emira was still blasting out fog at Chuckles, moving her stream to cover whichever spot he flailed to.

Eda was lowering down again towards Lilith on her staff. A purple-haired Demon Hunter spotted her coming down and began to draw a glowing circle with her finger, but Lilith managed to swipe a talon through one of the gaps in the net, snagging the Hunter’s robe and yanking her down to the ground again. As Eda landed she approached the screeching beast, and Jerbo scrambled to his feet to hurry over to her. He glanced around to see the Demon Hunters rallying, and quickly held his hands out in front of him.

"Whoa, whoa, hang on a second!" he cried. "Have you ever really thought about this?"

The brown-cloaked group paused. "What do you mean?" Tom asked.

"Well, you’re Demon Hunters, but…" Jerbo’s face scanned the assortment of faces before him, some lumpy, some scaly. "…we’re _all_ demons."

"Yeah," Tom replied. "And we’re demons who are Hunters. We're demon Hunters."

Jerbo frowned. "Okay, I guess grammatically that holds up," he admitted. Then he saw the group before him start to move forward again, and quickly span his hands in the air. Glowing rings appeared around the patches of grass beneath each Hunter’s feet, and the ground in each ring rotated around to make the Hunters face away from him. Then the ground rippled in a wave, making them all lose their footing and topple over.

"Come on, come on," Eda muttered as she tugged at the ropes binding Lilith. "What are these things _made_ of?"

"Arf!"

The witch looked to the side and saw Barcus holding her satchel of elixirs in his teeth.

"Oh yeah, good idea." Eda took one of the vials and went over to Lilith’s head. "Now Lily, I’m too drained to put you to sleep so you’re gonna have to work with me here."

But Lilith was still straining against the net, and as Eda tried to bring the vial to her sister’s mouth it was knocked out of her hand by a flailing limb, sailing across the clearing.

Eda glared at the beast. "You make it so hard to help you!" she growled, and Lilith blew a raspberry at her in reply.

The vial rolled across the grass a few feet from where Viney was stood, and Shawn spotted the glowing orange liquid glowing out against the dark grass. He wriggled out of Viney’s arms and fell to the floor.

"Shawn, buddy, no!" Viney hurried after the fast-toddling Abomination. Emira turned to watch Viney head away from her, and Chuckles managed to stumble out of her cloud of fog. He whipped his head round and shot glowing whips out from both hands. By the time Emira had glanced back at him, the whips had reached her and wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides. Chuckles swung both his hands and Emira flew around the Hunter in a circle as he span on the spot.

Barcus had bounded over to where Viney was pulling Shawn away from gnawing on the cork of the elixir vial. The canine boy scooped it out of the Abomination’s earthen hands into Eda’s now-empty bag, and Viney turned at the sound of Emira’s pulsating cries as she was spun past them.

"Em!" Viney yelled, and charged towards Chuckles. She leapt onto his back, pulling his hood down over his face. The Hunter lifted his hands to scrabble at her and the whips dissipated, leaving Emira to tumble through the air. She quickly summoned an illusion of a pile of thick pillows to appear on the ground below her, and bounced down on them comfortably before they disappeared again, letting her fall the last couple of inches to the grass below.

Chuckles managed to grab hold of Viney and pulled the witchling over his head, slamming her roughly to the ground. He grinned a lipless smile down at her and summoned a web of glowing lines between his hands.

He was then knocked back by a glowing bolt, and then another, and when Emira had sprinted up to him she drew a final ring in front of her that fired out an ongoing beam, blasting Chuckles across the clearing and away through the trees.

Viney sat up. "Thanks, I- OW!" She clutched her arm where the other girl had smacked it, hard.

" _What did you jump on him for?!’"_ Emira fumed, now kneeling next to her. ‘He would have torn you apart!’

Viney blinked in surprise at the reaction, but then as she looked deeper into the pair of golden eyes glaring at her she saw what had really caused the outburst.

"Were you… _scared_ for me?" she asked.

Emira’s eyes widened and her cheeks went a little pink. "N-No," she denied.

Viney gasped and grinned. "You _were_ , weren’t you?"

Emira sat back on the grass. "Shut up," she huffed. But when she met Viney’s eyes again, she couldn’t stop a small smile from creeping over her own face.

Barcus had managed to get Shawn into Eda’s satchel along with the first elixir vial and was bounding back over to her, the bag clutched in his mouth. But one of the Demon Hunters Jerbo was fending off turned and blocked his path – the squat, three-eyed figure widened his stance with a challenging grin, and Barcus growled at him through the satchel strap.

But then Shawn hopped out of the bag and waddled towards the Hunter, his arms outstretched and laughing happily. He grabbed onto the hem of the Hunter’s cloak, who lifted his leg, trying to shake the small creature off. With a final kick, Shawn was launched through the air and landed roughly on the grass.

The vulnerable, winded noise the Abomination let out as he hit the ground made the whole clearing suddenly freeze. The Hunter who’d kicked him away glanced around apprehensively, and the other Demon Hunters turned to see what had happened.­­

Bolts of lightning suddenly streamed from spell-circles cast all at once by the four teenagers spread about the clearing. The bolts all hit the squat Demon Hunter straight on, and the combined blast was strong enough to knock down the other brown-cloaked figures around him too.

Jerbo turned his head fearfully to the spot where Shawn had landed – the Abomination was picking himself up and started to run towards the lanky witchling, his facial features creased in a sob.

"GUH-BOW!" Shawn cried as he ran across the grass. "GUH-BOW!"

Jerbo put a hand to his mouth at the sound of the little creature trying to say his name. Eda glanced up at him from where she was still knelt next to Lilith.

"You okay there, big man?" she asked.

Jerbo gave a muffled whimper through his hand as he nodded, his eyes shimmering with tears. As Shawn reached him, he bent down and scooped the Abomination up in his arms, clutching him tight.

"It’s alright champ," he said with a quiver in his voice. "You’re alright…"

Eda turned back to Lilith and grabbed the beast’s lower jaw with one hand, holding the second elixir vial in the other. But Lilith still strained her face away from her.

"Anyone got a spare pair of hands?" Eda called out.

" _Not it_ ," Tom groaned weakly from where he and the other Hunters were lying limply on the ground.

The others ran over to Eda, and Viney took the elixir from her. Eda tried to grab hold of Lilith’s mouth with both hands, but sharp teeth snapped at her fingers and she quickly yanked them back.

"Wait, let me try something," Emira suggested, took the elixir from Viney, and spun her finger - the vial’s appearance changed to resemble a red Blood Apple, and Emira held it out invitingly to Lilith. "You want this?" she asked.

Lilith’s black eyes were suddenly fixed on the object being offered to her, and she pushed her head towards it against the ropes. Then she closed her jaws around it and Emira pulled her hand away. Lilith happily crunched down, the broken glass of the vial apparently having no effect on the inside of her mouth. She swallowed, seeming calm for a moment, but then her eyes started to droop and she reached up to clutch her head. The ropes of the net started to slacken as her feathery body began to shrink.

Eda sighed. "All right, job done." She stood, picking up her staff, turned, and walked away across the clearing.

Viney watched her go for a couple of seconds, and by the time she turned back to the net, the last few feathers were fading away from Lilith’s now-humanoid frame, clothed in a long black dress. The pale witch lifted her head, dazed, and the teenagers all tugged the net down to allow her out through one of the holes, which now easily allowed her through.

Lilith sat up and glanced around at the witchlings surrounding her, confused. Then she spotted the figure walking away.

"…Edalyn?" she called out.

But the other woman didn’t turn around, continuing on her way.

"Edalyn, wait, please!" Lilith scrambled to her feet and started to follow. Still not looking back, Eda jumped onto her staff and lifted up into the air, speeding away into the night sky.

Lilith stopped, watching the flying woman vanish. Then she raised her hands to cover her face, and let out a deep sigh through them.

Viney slowly approached her, holding out the bag Eda had left with them. "Here," she offered.

Lilith turned, lowering her hands, and eyed the bag blankly. Viney opened the flap to show the one remaining vial of orange liquid.

"She said you’d need this to stop the transformations."

Lilith nodded. "Yes, I know," she said quietly. "I suppose I still have to learn to manage it properly." She took the bag and glanced over at the group of witchlings looking at her. "Thank you for helping me," she said, some embarrassment in her voice.

"What happened between you two?" Jerbo asked.

Lilith lowered her eyes. "I was the one who gave Eda her curse when we were children. And although I recently took it on as well to save her, I fear it may be too late to fix the rift between us. I do not know if she will ever forgive me."

There was a pause, in which Lilith kept her eyes fixed on the ground.

"Arf?"

The pale woman raised her head to look at Barcus, who was offering an upturned paw. Her eyes widened in surprise at his offer, but she shook her head.

"Thank you, but I’ve taken too many shortcuts. It’s not for me to know yet. If this uncertainty is Eda’s punishment for me, then I will take it."

She started to walk out of the clearing, and the group watched the dark-haired woman disappear among the trees, hugging her arms to herself.

There was a small buzzing noise, and Emira reached into her pocket. She pulled out her scroll, unfurled it, and glanced at its display.

"Forty-seven messages from Edric," she muttered with little interest. She closed the scroll and pocketed it again. "So," she smiled at Viney. "Who wants to get dinner?"

* * *

"How about _scroll_ , can you say _scroll_!"

"Guh-bow!"

Jerbo grinned as he carried Shawn down the school corridor. "Good!" he said to the small Abomination. "Now how about _griffin_? Say _griffin_."

"Guh-bow!" Shawn repeated happily.

"Good boy!" Jerbo praised, and turned to smile proudly at Viney and Barcus. "He’s a little genius."

" _This is taking “hearing what you want to hear' to a new level,"_ Viney whispered to Barcus, who gave a snuffling laugh.

Then the group paused as they passed a door – it was the classroom where they’d endured their Detention Track ‘classes’, and the door was ajar. They peeked in to see Professor Adimundi sat in front of the blackboard examining his nails, and a pair of one-eyed students sat at desks – a goat-faced boy with a single, pointed horn, and a blue-haired girl whose eye made up her entire head. The pair were both wearing dull grey sleeves and leggings under their tunics, and had bored expressions on their faces.

Viney gave a little wave to catch the students’ attention, lifted a hand and pointed downards. " _Under the desk,"_ she mouthed, responding to their confused faces with a wink. Viney, Jerbo and Barcus left the pair to share a frown before tilting their heads to look under their desks.

"Guess Bump figured it was more cost-effective than the pit," Jerbo suggested.

"Well he’s just making more troublemakers for himself," Viney smirked. Then she stopped as Emira suddenly stepped out into their path.

The green-haired witchling looked uncharacteristically nervous. She and Viney hadn’t had a chance to talk after the group’s post-battle meal at _The Sternum and Rib_ pub, but Viney was still surprised to see _this_ much apprehension in the other girl’s eyes.

"Hey Em,’ Viney began. ‘Did you get home okay last-"

But Emira held up a hand to silence her. After taking a quick breath, she span her arms wide in front of her – a glowing blue griffin leapt out of the ring she’d made and it galloped around them. Viney turned her head to follow it as the illusion came to a stop behind her, and lifted a hand to stroke its beak as the creature nuzzled her cheek. Then it softly exploded, each feather becoming a butterfly that swept past Viney, and she had to hold the hood of her cowl back as the gust of movement blew it upwards. Shawn laughed with glee as he swatted at the fluttering insects, which flew back to Emira and fizzled out in the air just beyond her. The Blight girl glanced around and swallowed as she confirmed that every student and teacher who’d been walking down the corridor had stopped, and were now all looking at her.

"I like you Viney," she said, a little too loudly. "I think you’re really pretty and it’s really cool how much you know about animals and I've already thought about what we'd call our children so I want you to be my girlfriend please."

Emira glanced tensely around at all the faces watching her before looking back at the one that mattered – but Viney was trying to suppress a laugh with her hand.

" _What did you do that for?!"_ she giggled.

Emira’s eyes widened indignantly. "Y-You said you wanted a declaration."

"Yeah, to _me!"_ Viney said with a still-surprised smile. "Not to everyone!"

"But they said-" Emira turned to look down the corridor at where Edric and Amity had been watching them; her siblings were now doubled over with silent laughter.

Emira’s expression turned to rage, and she summoned a searing fireball in her hand.

"Alright, alright," Viney put a hand on the other girl’s arm to lower it. "Thank you, that was really sweet. It means a lot to me how very, _very_ open you were."

The green-haired girl was now blushing furiously, shooting furtive looks at the giggling students all around her - even Jerbo and Barcus were politely trying to repress a chuckle. But she seemed to manage to push them from her head and turned her eyes back to Viney.

"So…?" she asked.

Viney smiled, leaned up on her toes slightly and kissed Emira on her warm, pink cheek. The taller girl grinned through her blush, took Viney’s hand, and the group continued on their way.

"Does this mean I get access to day-of-death privileges?" Emira asked.

"It takes a little while to unlock that benefit," Viney replied, looking down at Barcus. "But she’ll stay the course, won’t she?"

"Arf."

"Oh, what do _you_ know." Viney huffed, and shared a smile with Emira.


End file.
